


Alter Ego

by Eris97



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Author is an idiot, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gen, Heroes, Hide and Seek, Investigation, Reporter!Rey, Rey doesnt like Kylo Ren, Rey is a stalker-- sort of, Secret Identities, Secret Revelation, Tenacious reporter, Vigilante!Kylo Ren, Vigilante/Hero, alternate universe- vigilante, at all, its still kinky shit just with a bit of plot, this was supposed to be kinky shit, vigilantes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-02-28 09:05:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18753265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eris97/pseuds/Eris97
Summary: Rey is an investigative reporter that would do anything to uncover the real identity of the infamous vigilante; Kylo Ren.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This had been sitting in my phone for months now (unfinished) dunno why im posting it just now hahahahah
> 
> Just a heads up, Ben (or Kylo lol) is something like batman, so he's not genetically modified nor enhanced. Although his way of living is pretty much similar to superman hahaha
> 
> This work is un-beta-ed so beware of wrong grammars and wrong use of words here and there mwahahahhaah

"Anytime now." Rey murmured to herself as she tucked her arms and the small hand-held camera she held closer to her chest to chase away the growing cold that began to bloom on her skin. The chilly night wind nipped at her that it sent shivers running all throughout her body.

Shivering, she pulled her coat closer around her to keep the warmth of her body from going away. The image of her warm bed at home began playing in her mind, Instead of sitting and waiting here in some dank, murky corner of a rooftop, she had the choice to go home, lazily crawl under the covers of her warm bed sheets and rest her tired body after a long and exhausting day at the office.

Rey shook her head, chasing away the fantasy.

No, she was going to stay here. What good is sleeping the night away when she had the opportunity to get her career to bloom?

As an investigative journalist for the Knights Enterprise, she wasn't going to dilly dally around. She was the best in her department, the company's pride and joy when it comes to the latest news about controversies and shit. But Rey wasn't satisfied enough, she wanted a name. She wanted to be remembered even when she was gone.

Hell she wanted a Pulitzer prize for herself.

And the opportunity to do so had come almost a year ago; when a vigilante who called himself _"Kylo Ren"_ had appeared. After that incident with the fire and the smooth defeat of the terrorist attack on a bank; Kylo Ren had been named a hero by the public.

But he was no hero, not to her at least. He was simply a vigilante and the law still does not allow them to run free. Kylo Ren may have saved lives and had stopped crime better than the police in Takodana had, but it still doesnít take away the fact that he was nothing more but a vigilante— he was not an actual hero.

Rey knew the moment she had laid eyes on the masked figure that he was her chance on finally achieving that dream of hers.

To do so, she was going to have to know who this _'Kylo Ren'_ really was. She was going to reveal his true identity not only to Takodana, but to the rest of the world.

Rey could practically imagine it already, her name being mentioned as the one who had revealed the identity of the mysterious vigilante.

And thus, that was the reason why she was freezing her ass off in that rooftop; she was going to uncover who Kylo Ren really was. She was going to uncover every bit of his true identity and lay it all out for the public to see.

There had been a lot of speculation at first who he really was, but as time flew by, the people had simply lost interest. But not her.

She was grasping at air for the first few months of her investigation, getting no clues at all that forced her to start stalking him every single night just to get a single fucking one.

And that was what happened for the following months; she just stalked him; getting small pieces of data about him during her observations, snapping a few photos of him for the newspaper to use in their headlines.

"Don't you think itís a bit too extensive Rey?" She remembered one of her colleagues— Ben Solo, one of the editors— told her as she submitted him the photos one day.

"What's too extensive?" she asked. She knew what he was meaning about, but still she wanted to hear it from him directly. The man was a quiet type of person, reserved and mostly kept to him. She liked him as a co-worker; he was easy to work with, his company soothing and she always finds herself at ease with him around.

Yup she really did like him, as a coworker that is. And definitely not beause she found him attractive or anything. Nor she found those rare smiles of his very appealing, very adorable and very, very kissable...

Nope, she liked him as a coworker, as a friend, _period._

"This." He gestured to the photographs she gave him. "This obsession you have with Kylo Ren."  
Oh yes. They had been telling her that she was starting to become obsessed with Kylo Ren. But she didnt care.

She gave Ben a nonchalant shrug and answered him.

"I won't be called an investigative reporter if i wasn't this stubborn in my investigation."

Whatever he wanted to say to her, those words were left unspoken.

Obsessed? _Yes._

Desperate? _Absolutely._

There was this one time where she hired a bunch of guys to act as if they were going to rape her just to lure out Kylo Ren. Well it worked, but the problem was, the men she hired to act out the part weren't really just  going to act out the part, they were actually going to do it.

And to think she paid them for it. Ugh.

Well that was what she got for hiring a bunch of guys right off the street.

So, as she had expected it, Kylo Ren swooped in and saved the day— saved her to be precise. If people thought that it would change her mind about him, well they were wrong.

True, he had saved her, but it never changed her mind or opinion about him. He was still no hero to her.

In the patterns that she had observed about him, he never stays long after doing his hero work, he always runs off into the dark night. But oddly, after he had saved her, after the men had ran away bruised and beaten, he was standing right in front of her with arms crossed over his chest.

That was the first time that they had met and talked— well if one could call that a talk— more like a banter. Afterwards, when she attempted to snatch the mask away from his face, he fled.

After that event, she had a few more times where she got to exchange a few words with him, but never had she gotten a chance to get to try to snatch his mask away from his face.

Who was Kylo Ren really?

What was he hiding under that mask?

Why do vigilante work if he wanted to help?

Questions plagued her mind that left her dazed.

"I'm going to get him this time." Rey muttered that promise to herself over and over again for the past months. One of the patterns that she had noticed while stalking him was that he always passes by this area  whenever he was spotted.

So here she was, freezing her ass off in the night. Even when winter was coming, she was letting herself freeze in that area, just waiting for the masked vigilante to appear.

According to the police scanner that she had been listening to (and from what Finn— another co-worker of hers— had heard) there was a shootout where Kylo Ren had apprehended the perpetrators and had given them to police custody. The police were devoted to him that they didnt even arrest him for his vigilante crimes.

The shootout had been three hours ago, which meant that he should have passed there already. So where the hell—

"Quite a lovely night for stargazing don't you think?"

That voice appeared out of nowhere. Rey jumped out of her skin in fright, completely taken off guard by Kylo Ren popping just behind her.

"You!" Heart feeling like a sledgehammer in her chest, Rey could only utter that one single word out of shock. Even in the darkness, even with that accursed mask on, she could easily tell that this man was smiling at her.

"It's you again Ms. Jakku." He said, his voice distorted by some kind of mechanism that wouldnít allow anyone to hear his real voice. "What are you doing out on this chilly night?"

"The usual." she cheekily retorted back, keeping her eyes fixated on him, assessing the situation and their position, see if she can try to snatch off his mask this time. "Just checking our local hero saving the day again."

He chuckled.

"I'm no hero Ms. Jakku."

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow at him, letting her camera dangle on a sling around her neck, crossing her arms across her chest and tilting her chin to size him up.

Damn, the man was tall. Really tall that she was sure she had to stand on her toes just to be on eye level with this man.

"Well that is what the people see you Kylo Ren." she added, rolling her eyes at her own statement.

"And what do you see me?" He asked, mimicking her pose, but there was something off with his movements, as if there was something that was keeping him from moving. Rey waved it off, she didnt care.

"I see a hero-wannabe." she bravely said to him. It wasnít the first time she had told him that. Since the first time she had met him, she had made it clear to him what she really thought about him.

"Ah! See? You're not the only one who thinks so Ms. Jakku, so I'm no hero." he said, stepping back a bit and deeper into the shadows. Rey took a step forward, not wanting to lose him.  
Rey fisted her hands into balls at her side, resisting the urge to just lunge at him and take off the mask.

"I admire your tenacity Ms. Jakku." he said to her after a few minutes of silence that stretched between them. "Did you know that you're not the only one who had tried to reveal my identity, but none of them had lasted this long— just you."

There was an edge to his tone that Rey noticed, albeit because of the voice changer in his mask, she wasnít sure if it was real or not. Did she really hear admiration in his voice? Nah, he was probably spewing out sarcasms and she couldn't even tell it.

"I'm quite proud of my stubbornness." she admitted proudly, a smug smile crossing her face.

"Indeed you are one stubborn woman." he said, almost exasperatingly, which made her laugh internally. She almost did, but something caught her eye.

When Kylo Ren had stepped back, something fell from him, dripping down his side. She couldn't tell what it was due to the black clothing he had on, but when she saw what it was on the ground, she felt her blood run cold.

There on the ground were drops of blood coming from him. She narrowed her eyes at him and now saw how he was casually clutching his side.

"Is there a problem Ms. Jakku?" he asked.

Instead of answering him, she lunged at him, but this time it wasn't for the mask. He must've thought that she was going for his mask again, so he stepped back and raised his hands to cover his face and prevent her from taking his mask. In the darkness, she could make out a wound on his side, something that looks like a graze but not quite.

She poked at the wound which made him hiss out in pain.

"You need to get that looked." she stated in her usual as-a-matter-of-factly tone, leaning back a bit to look up at him.

"I'm fine." he barked out almost immediately after she had said those words. Rey quirked an eyebrow at him, watching how he staggered away from her hold, the blood loss already affecting him.

"So says the man who's bleeding his guts out." she hissed out and rolled her eyes, approaching him cautiously, not wanting him to bolt away. Not that he could do it in his condition obviously. When he stepped back again, she huffed out an irritated sigh.

"Look I just wanna help okay?" she said, hands up. "It's not going to be an easy win for me if I get to know who  you really are while you're wounded and weak, so you can rest assured that I won't be snatching that petty mask off that face of yours."

Of course she wasn't a cold hearted bitch. She wasn't just going to hand him over to the feds as a vigilante, bleeding and wounded while she dance her celebratory dance. It wasnít going to feel like a victory. It would taste odd in her mouth to have something she had worked so hard for being handed to her so easily like food on a silver platter.

No, she was too proud for that.

Seeing him visibly relax and sag against the wall behind him, she quickly closed the distance between them and took out her phone, switching the torchlight on to inspect the wound, horrified to know that it wasn't just a simple graze like she had thought it was.

"Damn it." she cursed out, straightening and pocketing her phone. Before he could even react or say anything, she had ripped off her sleeve, not caring how the cold wind bit on her exposed flesh.

"You got shot." she said, pressing the makeshift bandage over the wound. She heard him hiss, gritting his teeth so hard that she could hear them grinding behind his mask.

"Yeah no kidding."

Ignoring the sarcastic reply, she rolled her eyes and pulled at his arm.

"We need to get that bullet out." She declared. "We need to get you to a hospital."

At those words, she felt him yank his arm away from her, failing to have pulled him away from the wall.

"I'm not going to some fucking hospital." he growled out and scooted away, but Rey was fast and had clung to his arm once more, pulling him hard, not caring if it had put unnecessary strain on his wound.

If she couldn't get this stubborn mule to a hospital then what would she do? He was useless dead to her.

"So what, you're going to keep that bullet in your body till you're dead?" she scoffed out sarcastically. He shook his head at her, struggling to keep his balance.

"There's someone at home who can get this thing out." he gruffed out, the voice changer making weird wheezing noises as he panted heavily.

"So where's your house?"

He laughed at that.

"I'm not falling for that one Ms. Jakku."

She was about to lunge at him and force his stubborn ass down the exit when an incessant beeping caught her attention. At first she didnt know where it was coming from, till she heard him curse out.

"Shit!" he pushed something at the side of his mask, making the beeping stop. He turned to her then and suddenly for some reason her heart began to pound erratically.

"You need to leave." he said, pulling himself away from the wall. "Now."

This time, instead of her grabbing his arm, it was him who took her by the arm and had practically dragged her towards the exit. Wow, how the hell did he still have strength to drag her?

"Wait!" she protested, squirming against his hold. "You can't get rid of me like this!"

"Rey!" he growled, leaving her perplexed at the use of her first name.

"You need to leave right now." he repeated, shaking his head as he assessed their surroundings.

"They could come here at any mo—"

Whatever he was saying was cut off when she saw hands pull him backwards. He had let go of her arm as he was ripped away from her. In the next moments, she found herself watching Kylo Ren wrestling with another black clad man, a mask over his face as well.

In a series of blows, tangled limbs and dripping blood, Rey found herself rooted on the ground, unable to figure out what the hell was going on. Who was the man and why was he assaulting Kylo Ren?

"Jakku!" she heard her last name being called out by him, his voice broken as he was being choked with an arm slung over his neck.

"Run!"

Wide eyed, Rey finally found herself taking a step back. Taking another, and then another one. But her gaze was still pinned on the two men.

She watched as Kylo Ren blindly pawed at the man's face till he had grasped at one end of the mask and yanked it off.

A flash of ginger head, pale skin and freckles was revealed to her.

"You're going to pay for that Ren!" The man screamed, pulling out something from his back pocket.

"I said run!" He bellowed, finally freeing himself from the man's hold. Shaken, Rey finally got herself to stumble away and make a dash for the exit, flinging the door wide open that it banged against the other side of the wall.

As if being called, she whipped her head towards the men's direction, just in time to witness the red head slash what it seemed like a pocket knife on his hand over Kylo's face. The mask flew away and revealed to her the man beneath.

_Holy shit._

"Ben?" she breathed out incredulous, watching the man slash at him again, this time the blade grazing his face.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey peanut, you alright there?" Finn's voice pulled her out of her dazed thoughts. Blinking fast, Rey turned towards her friend, forcing a smile that felt odd on her face.

"I'm fine."

"So why were you looking at Solo's office like a forlorn puppy then?" her friend asked, with a hint of teasing tone in his voice. Was she staring at Ben's office? Ugh she had to get a grip on herself. She was losing it.

Ever since that night in the rooftop where she had to watch him struggle for his life— bleeding and weak, she wasn't the same anymore.

The wound on his side was one thing to be concerned about, the blood oozing out seemed nothing to her. But the new wound on his face was the one that scared her. She was scared that he was dead, that he had succumbed to his assailant's strength.

After being slashed on the face, she watch them chase each other down, jumping from one rooftop to the other using the fire escape ladders on the side of the buildings like bunch of traceurs.

Ever since then, she hadn't seen Ben Solo either.

"He still hasn't come back, right?" Ignoring the teasing, she asked Finn, knowing full well what the answer was.

"No he still hasn't." Finn replied, glancing towards the empty office. "Damn, that must have been a hell of an injury, heard he broke a bone during that crash he was in."

Months. It had been two months to be precise since that night and yet up until that day, she had not seen hair nor hide from Solo.

But he was alive. She was sure of that. How?

Well she paid him a little visit in his home, which by the way had given her something like a Bruce Wayne vibes because she had no idea that he owned a manor in the outskirts of Takodana, tucked close to the heart of the woodland.

If he was this fucking rich then why the hell was he still working as an editor of a measly newspaper company? Seriously that was nuts.

She was greeted by an old woman who claimed to be the head of the household servants, and had told her that Ben was still recovering from the accident that he had.

"Such a nasty accident he was in." the old woman mussed, unblinking. "The crash had broken his leg and a few rib bones, therefore the master needs to recuperate. As for the moment the doctor does not allow any visitors for him."

A car crash.

That was the excuse he had given for his disappearance. Losing his break while driving his way home, he crashed against a tree as he tried to swerve to the side to avoid hitting a pedestrian; an eyewitness to the story that Rey was sure have been paid to support the claim.

But she knew the real reason why he was gone; the reason why he hadn't come to work for the past two months. It was because of the gunshot wound, and whatever wounds he had aquired during that scuffle of his with his assailant.

Her mind taunted her with ideas. What if he was in critical condition right now? Somehow she felt like it was her fault, if she wasn't in that rooftop that night, she wouldn't have delayed him from his escape. A shivering thought crossed her mind, making her blood run cold.

_What if he was dying?_

The idea sent her panicking. Maybe he was dying, there was no doubt about it and she believed it to be true because there was someone else playing as Kylo Ren.

With Ben injured, she was sure that she wasn't going to see his alter ego for a while. But the very next night, she saw his alter ego roaming the dark streets of Takodana.

Someone else was posing as Kylo Ren on Ben's behalf.

With the bullet wound that she saw on Ben that night, she was sure that it would render him immobile for a few weeks at the very least, so she was absolutely positive that the Kylo Ren roaming around every night was not Ben Solo.

Guess her obsession paid off, especially how easily she could spot a fake Kylo Ren just by watching their movements. Plus, the man had a shorter stature and a bit of an accent when he spoke even with the voice changer hiding his real voice.

She tried confronting Ben about it, visiting his house after a few days again. But she was drove off by the old woman again who had told her that Ben wasn't still allowed to have visitors.

"What is the problem? If it's just a broken bone then why can't I see him?!" she had blurted out at the old woman back then. But with a calm cool composure the old woman had replied to her, repeating what she had said the first time that she had visited.

Knowing that she wasnít going to be able to see him, she surrendered pestering the woman.

Now that she knew the real identity of Kylo Ren, for some reason she wasnít too excited to reveal it to everyone. How in the hell was Ben Solo the infamous vigilante Kylo Ren? It didn't make sense.

Ben seemed so closed off, someone who doesnít go out much, who prefers reading in a comfortable nook in a library or his home. He didnt look like someone who possessed such strength or courage to stand up to crime. He didnt look stupid to do so. Ben Solo was smart, practical and a normal person. He wasn't—

"Kylo Ren." Finn said. Rey turned to him wide eyed as if he had read her mind and finished her sentence, pulling her out of her rampant thoughts. Finn jutted his chin towards the television hanging on the wall of the other side of the work floor.

"Still haven't found out his real identity yet? You seem to have lost interest in chasing him down." Her friend pointed out in which she nodded her head in agreement.

She knew Kylo Ren's real identity now. But the world still doesn't. Left with the idea that Ben must be in his death bed, she didn't find it victorious enough, nor worthy to reveal the real identity of the infamous vigilante to the people.

Staring at the TV screen, Rey watched a snippet of a clip; of the fake Kylo Ren caught by the camera as he made his escape after successfully preventing a shootout.

She had to see Ben, and she believes that this man would lead her to him.

* * *

 

It only took her a week to recognize the patterns that this new vigilante had, already surmising where she could possibly jump the guns on him like she did with Ben.

So here she was again, sitting in wait. But not in a rooftop this time. This time she was tucked away in a dark alley, the pungent smell of the rotting garbage of a dump truck nearby assaulted her nose.

Damn if that fake Kylo Ren wasn't going to appear anytime soon, she might die because of air poisoning.

Gripping her pepper spray in one hand and a baseball bat on the other, she waited for him to appear. She still wasnít sure if he will pass by the area, but she took her chances. Besides the percentage of him passing this area often was high enough to convince her to sit and wait, even when she had to torture her nose for it and might even be attacked by some random drunk or some creep. Hence the baseball bat in her grasp.

Hours pass. She felt herself drift off to sleep, too tired to care about leaning against a damp mossy brick wall beside her, her eye lids slowly fluttering to a close.

"A pretty lady like shouldn't be in these parts you know."

A familiar mechanical voice told her, but the accent was way off from the one that she actually knew.

Raising her head, she saw him looming over her, both hands propped on his knees as he leaned down over her crouched figure.

"Where's Ben?" She asked, her voice crackling after hours of being unused. If she could see behind the mask, she was sure that the person inside would be blinking at her in disbelief.

"Go home miss. You shouldn't be here." the man said instead, straightening him and completely ignoring her question. Rey rose to her feet when the man backed away.

"I asked you where is Ben?" she said, her voice now suddenly a cold calm, a tone that she only uses on those interviews where she had to intimidate people just to get what she wants.

The man however wasn't intimidated, if anything else, he just stared at her, regarded her for a minute before dashing away all of a sudden.

"Hey wait!" She screamed, bolting after the escaping black figure.

Damn he was fast. But Rey wasn't one to give up immediately.

She chased him through the alley (at one point tossing the baseball bat at his direction, hoping it would hit him and slow him down, but it barely grazed his back) till they reached a dead end where he disappeared.

Huffing, she assessed her surroundings, trying to discern where he had escaped to. Damn, too many of them knows parkour these days.

"I know Ben is Kylo!" she screamed at the empty air, hearing her own voice bounce against the cold walls.

"I just need to see him." she said, this time in a voice barely a whisper, huffing out a sigh, her body shaking at the adrenaline of the run and finally she could feel the lingering ache in her legs that promised a cramp later on.

"You can't." the man's voice said, appearing behind her. Suppressing a gasp, Rey spun around, finding the man standing right behind her.

"Please I need to." she begged. "I can't stop thinking that it was my fault that he was in danger. If I didn't kept him in that rooftop too long then that assailant of his wouldnít have attacked him."

The man stood unmoving before her, clearly unconvinced.

"You need to take me to him. His head household servant is not letting me in!" her voice raised an octave, she was practically screaming now.

"Whoa hey, peanut calm down." the man held two hands up, trying to calm her down.

"Calm down? How can you sa—"

Wait a minute. _Peanut?_

Narrowing her eyes at him, Rey's mind quickly calculated that one simple word.

In her life, there were only two people who called her that, one was Finn who clearly didn't have that smooth accent, and the other one was—

"Poe?"


End file.
